Daniel Jackson Discussion and Appreciation

[Captain-Peregrine]

Some of my favorite characters are geeks. And, I'm not talking the negative stereotype of pocket protector, wild hair, snorting laugh, everyone runs away from them. I'm talking really intelligent people, who thrive on knowledge. Who get excited over a new discovery and find things fascinating and have a hard time imagining that other people won't find the same things fascinating, even if they don't fall under the popular range of interesting subjects. Someone who's known more for their brains than their brawn, even if they will and can fight (or use weapons) if necessary. Someone who can be described as senstive.

I'd like to think of myself as a grade-A geek and I am so proud of it. I love geeky people because they ARE intelligent and they don't need to be drop-dead georgeous to be sexy. I mean, Daniel just happens to be hot AND intelligent, which is great for us thunkers. But me, I have a very hobbity appearance and so it is definatly nice to know that geeky doesn't depend on having to whip off the glasses and suddenly--bam! You're beautiful!

And that's why I love Daniel because he doesn't really change with or without the glasses. I mean, yes he's usually warrior-Daniel when he's not wearing his glasses, but that's just because that's during a situation when a broken lens would be VERY inopportune. But he's always DANIEL, no matter what he's wearing on his face. He makes us geeks look good.

Yay, Daniel! The savior and protector of all geeks!

[Mickey23]

So, what do you call people who spend more time discussing Daniel than looking at pictures of him? I thought Deep Thinkers might fit, but that seems kind of insulting to the Thunkers.

Hey I like "Deep Thinkers." Gives this discussion thread some class, don't you think?

... tv has certain shorthands to describe a character. Guys wearing glasses aren't usually classified as macho men. They're geeks. But, here's the thing. In tv land (maybe in society?) being a geek is a bad thing.

Yeah, I agree,that's kind of annoying.

But, I think popular culture doesn't see this type of man as a real man. It's getting better, but I think the trend still leans more towards macho manly super suave guys, rather than the intellectuals.

Maybe in some small way, Daniel's character has helped to change this? At least in the Scifi genre? Or maybe not, that's just wishful thinking on my part.

I actually like Daniel with the glasses. It makes his character look intelligent. I think, also, in TV, glasses = intelligence as much as glasses = geeky. IMO, he doesn't really look geeky with them. Now, the alternate reality Daniel from Moebius, yeah maybe.
Anyone who has spent half an hour watching Stargate realizes that that stereotyope of glasses = geeky is wrong for Daniel. He's a strong character, who is intelligent, moral, will fight when he needs to, gets really excited at new discoveries, is sensitive, and who just happens to wear glasses like he just happens to have brown hair and blue eyes.

So, basically what I am saying here, is that I agree with you. (Took me a while to say that, huh?)

[CBloom]

I have a bit of a phobia about eyes! I can't watch anyone put contacts in - so it was a bit of a stomach turner for me watching Daniel put his contacts in in Summit/Last Stand!

The glasses work for me - intellegent, studious, focused, these are all Daniel!

Then the glasses come off and ........well, what can I say! He still is Daniel to me, just a touch more .......?

I love it here - may have to just divert to Thunk thread just so I can have a drool over Daniel's twin!!

Be back soon!

[Katerine]

I seem to be in the minority, in that I'm a huge Daniel fan, but I don't think he's all that physically attractive. I'd actually read about him in a crossover fanfic prior to seeing any episodes, so I'd already read about how wonderful his character was - and my first reaction when I first saw him in the show was, "That's it? That's what all of the fuss is about?"

It's... kind of similar to my reaction to seeing everybody fawning over Angel's great looks on Buffy, when to me he actually looked kind of ugly.

MS just isn't my type. RDA is my type. James Marsters (the guy who played Spike on Buffy) is my type. The guys who play Michael Vaughn and Will Tippin on Alias are my type. Will Smith is my type. Goran Visnjic (the guy who plays Luka Kovac on ER) is really my type. MS has facial lines and a body build that's entirely wrong for me.

And yet, Daniel is, by far, the most attractive character on Stargate to me. Actually, he's pretty much the most attractive character on TV, period. Because I know him, at least as far as the show lets us know him. I love the way he thinks. I love the way he cares so much about what he does and the people he's with. And I love, love, LOVE the "geeky" aspect of his personality - the side that finds so much joy in learning and discovery. It's also the practical side of him, that couldn't care less about vanity.

Mostly for that reason, I dislike the fact that he's been wearing his glasses less and less. Since he still wears them sometimes, I'm guessing he didn't get laser surgery (which could be justified in that the glasses are a hindrance on missions). I'm therefore forced to conclude that he's usually wearing contacts when he isn't wearing glasses. And that just doesn't fit with the Daniel I know and love.

Mickey23 said it best. Speaking as a person who wears contacts, my first reaction to seeing Daniel without glasses in a place where there's both sand and wind, is I just cringe in sympathy for the pain he's in for.

I wear contacts, largely because my glasses have an old prescription and I can't afford new glasses that don't weigh 3 pounds and hurt my nose and ears. I can say with absolute certainty, though, that given the choice between glasses and contacts, I would definitely wear glasses if I spent a great deal of time outdoors in potentially dangerous places where there was even the remotest possibility that something (sand, dirt, water, debris, shrapnel) might end up in my eye. Even one grain of sand in the eyes with contacts leads to up to two minutes of blindness and pain. Rubbing the eyes, if, say, water gets into them, leads to contacts moving to the back of the eye, which is also painful and leads to askew vision and requires several minutes in front of a mirror to put things right. Or, rubbing the eyes might lead to the contact popping out, which also leads to askew vision. None of these things are things that Daniel can afford while on missions.

I simply cannot see the Daniel that I know and love putting vanity ahead of these considerations. He wore contacts in Summit because he had very little choice - since the presence of glasses would have been a dead giveaway. And of course in S6, there was just no need of vision correction of any kind. But the same cannot be said for wearing contacts on most of his missions. And even when on base, I can't see him preferring contacts, with the inherent hassle and the risk of astigmatism, to glasses. Not when he can afford the lightweight and shatterproof kind.

So, no. I don't like the fact that they've been having Daniel wear his glasses less and less.

Also, asthetically, I think Daniel looks better with the glasses. Without them, his face looks very round. And they just fit his character better - they highlight his intelligence. They make him seem more... Daniel. And that's always a good thing.

[Dani347]

I think he looks better with the glasses, too. And, strangely enough, I think Daniel looks better than MS. I also don't think he would stop wearing glasses for vanity reasons. That's one reason I hate those muscle shirts they had the team in, especially for Daniel. I mean, asthetically, I hate muscles so the more they're hidden the better for me, but the only purpose I can think of for wearing those kinds of shirts is to show off. And, I can't imagine Daniel thinking that way.

I wonder if tptb (and maybe MS as well) felt that the glasses fit better with the long haired, more outwardly geeky version, than the version now? You know, this is similar to something I noticed watching X-Files. Mulder only wore reading glasses, but I noticed maybe halfway through the series when they started dressing him in more fashionable suits, he just stopped wearing the glasses completely. And, also, Scully also wore reading glasses, but then her wardrobe improved and the glasses vanished. I don't think there's any reason within the story for Daniel to stop wearing the glasses (you'd think if there were, he'd just go ahead and get the laser surgery) at random moments. So, I'm thinking that they think there's something about who he is that doesn't fit the image that comes with glasses. Which is a whole other can of worms.


And, ew! If I ever considered contacts, the descriptions of them here are enough to stop me. I already have enough trouble with my eyes.

[1DanielForMe]

Daniel would never wear contacts on a permanent basis, he hates the things, and I don’t think he’s the sort to get LASIK. Personally, I don't see him ever not wearing glasses, and I think when we do see him without his glasses, there's usually a reason for it. If you think about it, there were quite a few episodes early on where the team had to go to Chulak, or some other place where people didn't wear glasses, and Daniel would have to go most, if not all of an episode without wearing his glasses.

I love that Daniel wears glasses, because I love everything about him, plus I wear glasses myself, but I'd still love him if it somehow got to where he didn't need them anymore. It's not that big of a deal to me, because I don't see that his glasses really make him who he is. That being said, I don't see it making sense for him to stop wearing his glasses ever, so, for that matter, it would annoy me if he did.

[GateWarrior]

I have a bit of a phobia about eyes! I can't watch anyone put contacts in - so it was a bit of a stomach turner for me watching Daniel put his contacts in in Summit/Last Stand!

The glasses work for me - intellegent, studious, focused, these are all Daniel!

Then the glasses come off and ........well, what can I say! He still is Daniel to me, just a touch more .......?

I love it here - may have to just divert to Thunk thread just so I can have a drool over Daniel's twin!!

Be back soon!

Hi CBloom! Nice to meet'cha. Me too about the eye thing, except that it's mostly just MY eyes that I have a phobia about. I can watch eye surgery, but I can hardly put eye drops in my own eyes. Oh, and those people that can "bug out" their eyes REALLY freaks me out. Anyhoo...
________________________________________________________________

Current topic is "Daniel's glasses; with or without?", huh? For me, whether he wears his glasses or not, it makes no difference to me. He's still Daniel. No matter what he wears or what he looks like; it's his soul, his passion, his intelligence, & his compassion that I love. That's not to say that I don't admire the package that it comes in though. I always thought the long hair & glasses on him was just cute as a button. It wasn't until he cut his hair that I considered him to be a hottie as well, but whether he wears the glasses or not is inconsequential to me. He looks hot either way, & is still just as much "Daniel" to me.

Besides, has anyone noticed that Daniel's glasses have no prescription in them? If you look, they're just flat lenses. Just a little trivia. Apparently MS doesn't need glasses himself, hence the glasses with no Rx.

Happy Easter to everyone BTW.

[Dani347]

Okay, rambling, somewhat off topic explanation of why it does make a difference to me that Daniel wears his glasses as much as humanly possible.


Yes, I know MS doesn't wear glasses, which is the main reason Daniel looks better than MS (yes, the way some women go gaga over a man in tight jeans, I go gaga over a man in glasses). And, no, taking off the glasses doesn't change Daniel's personality. But, I'm thinking in terms of, well, looks (he just looks better. I told you, it's a fetish) and also about what it says about tv and society in general that glasses seem to be so disposable. I mean, back when I was a kid, I had the idea that for most people glasses were a necessary evil, to be replaced with contacts at the earliest possible opportunity. Which never made any sense to me, because I was always upset when I passed my eye exams at school, because that meant no glasses. I was happy when I finally needed them(I've been told I willed my bad eyesight into happening just so I could get glasses). And, then, I went to college, I saw that the image tv had of glasses wasn't true. Lots of people on campus wore glasses all the time. Not just absentminded professors or gawky students, but just average people. I mean, I still had maybe one or two people ask me if I ever considered contacts (strangely enough one person also wore glasses), but despite the image tv gave (and it was worse before) glasses weren't seen as equivalent to a Frankenstein mask.

So, I just don't like it when it seems like tv thinks there's a need to fix someone wearing glasses. It may be a minor thing, but since I've seen other characters suddenly stop wearing glasses altogether, I can't help thinking every time they find some reason to get Daniel out of his glasses, it's just lowering the resistance and one day he'll stop wearing the glasses for good. And, I won't like it one bit. His glasses are just as much a part of who he is as any other aspect of his character.

[Mickey23]

Ok, this is off the "glasses/no glasses" debate... I asked a while back about Daniel's car and got some responses back to watch for one in Lost City Part One. I watched it last night and did see the red car in the background when Daniel and Teal'c went to O'Neill's house. Assuming, of course, that it was Daniel's car and not in a neighbor's driveway....I don't really see that kind of car as something Daniel would drive. I'm not a car person, so I have no idea what kind of car it was (anybody know the type of car it was?). But it seemed a little showy and pretentious for Daniel. I always saw him driving something more conservative, maybe something nondescript and a few years old. It would seem to fit better with his personality. Basically just something to cart his books, gym bag, and some artifacts around in.

So, my question is then, what type of car do you see Daniel as driving? And why?

[Captain-Peregrine]

lol Maybe one of those little hatch-backs. Just something you could buy off someone on the side of the road. And maybe it would be green ? lol

[Dani347]

Ok, this is off the "glasses/no glasses" debate... I asked a while back about Daniel's car and got some responses back to watch for one in Lost City Part One. I watched it last night and did see the red car in the background when Daniel and Teal'c went to O'Neill's house. Assuming, of course, that it was Daniel's car and not in a neighbor's driveway....I don't really see that kind of car as something Daniel would drive. I'm not a car person, so I have no idea what kind of car it was (anybody know the type of car it was?). But it seemed a little showy and pretentious for Daniel. I always saw him driving something more conservative, maybe something nondescript and a few years old. It would seem to fit better with his personality. Basically just something to cart his books, gym bag, and some artifacts around in.

So, my question is then, what type of car do you see Daniel as driving? And why?

ooh, that's a toughy. I'm probably worse than you in knowing nothing about cars. Maybe he had a old car before this one, and it finally gave up the ghost, and when he went to buy one he took Jack or someone with him, and they convinced him to live a little. Or, maybe he does have a thing for showy cars. Just something that keeps him from being too easy to read.

I don't know.

[1DanielForMe]

I dunno. Daniel strikes me as the JEEP sort (non military issue, hard top, smallest make). Perhaps his vehicle was in the shop, and that red sport number was the only rental available.

[Mickey23]

I dunno. Daniel strikes me as the JEEP sort (non military issue, hard top, smallest make). Perhaps his vehicle was in the shop, and that red sport number was the only rental available.

I like that. I can see Danny driving a Jeep.

[Dani347]

Didn't he drive a jeep in The Curse?

[Mickey23]

Didn't he drive a jeep in The Curse?

Me thinks he did. It wasn't his, of course, as he was in Egypt. But he did seem to enjoy driving it. Driving fast through the desert and bouncing Janet and Sam around.